PROBABLY GULER, PAHARI HILLS, INDIA, CIRCA 1840-45

Gulab Singh of Jammu (r.1846-57) was the Machiavellian Raja of Jammu who rose to prominence in early 19^th century North India. He was granted this title by Ranjit Singh, having commanded Sikh forces and aided in suppressing local revolts in the late 1810s. Once established, he was able to slowly expand his domain by annexing Mankot, Bandralta, Jasrota, and Basohli. Following the death of Nau Nihal Singh in 1840, Gulab Singh aligned himself with the dead Maharaja’s mother, Chand Kaur: the succession struggle provided him with further opportunities to enrich his state at the expense of his former masters. His final coup came with the Treaty of Amritsar in 1846, when the British recognised him as Maharaja of Kashmir, as well as acknowledging his holdings in and around Jammu, in exchange for 7.5 million rupees. In his Travels in Kashmir, Godfrey Thomas Vigne paints Gulab Singh as a man of contradictions: ‘[he] has made himself feared by cruel and tyrannical exactions, but affects to be tolerant and liberal in his religious opinions,’ particularly towards his Muslim population who were allowed to practice with a freedom not granted them in Ranjit Singh’s domain (W. G. Archer, Indian paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, p.181).

Many surviving paintings from the period depict Gulab Singh, as here, performing the many activities and rituals necessary for him to perform as a ruler. They include the scene in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, depicting him performing his ablutions before worship (IS.37-1949), as well as two further images published by W. G. Archer depicting him riding with an escort and watching dancers (W. G. Archer, op. cit., pl.74, 76, and 78). The figure behind him in his painting may be one of his sons, with whom he appears in portraits also published by Archer (W. G. Archer, Paintings of the Sikhs, London, 1966, fig.56). A notable feature of this painting is the soldiers lined up on the shore in the background: Vigne remarked on the militarised appearance of Gulab Singh’s court, noting that ‘the courtyard of the palace was alive with the crowds of officers and attendants, gorgeously appareled in red and yellow shawls and silks, and armed with spears, swords, shields, and matchlocks’. Troops in the same uniforms – with red turbans, white shirts, and blue trousers – can be seen arrayed at the bottom of a painting of the second Lahore Darbar (W. G. Archer, Paintings of the Sikhs, op. cit., fig.60).